Quad-boot help needed

New Member

I just needed some help on something for rather an interesting reason. I've actually been able to get XP, Vista, 7, and Snow Leopard up and running well at the same time on a netbook before. But not so on another netbook, and it doesn't really matter what netbooks they were. But in any case, let me explain my current situation. Throughout last night and this morning, I created four partitions using the Windows 7 install disc before installing it on the third partition. After that, I then used the Snow Leopard install USB drive to install that on the fourth partition, then after installing all necesary features and the latest updates, I then went back and recovered the Windows 7 boot option. That was no issue. Then I used the Vista install USB drive to install that on the second partition. Installed with no problem, so what's left? What I figured to be, and it is, a challenge: Windows XP. I used the install CD to install that on the first partition, but then that left me with no Windows Boot manager options, thus making me unable, at least in that sense, to access Vista, 7, and Snow Leopard. So I went back and recovered the boot option in Windows 7 again (keep in mind both times I recovered the 7 boot option, I made the Windows 7 partition active first of course), thus recovering both the Vista and 7 boot options. But no more XP boot option, so what do I do? In Windows 7, where I manage the boot options using EasyBCD, the latest stable version 1.7.2, which I trust more as of now than the latest 2.0 Beta build, I went in and manually added a boot option for Windows XP. That didn't work, and then various other ways I tried to do it, whether using the Bootsect.exe thing in Vista or the Recovery Console in XP, still no luck. However, there is one little hidden quirk that is actually positive in all this. I can still boot into XP, but I have to boot up from the optical drive, not the internal hard drive as I usually would, where the CD running contains FIXNTLDR, and by choosing to Start Windows Normally, then select Option 1 from the foreign worded lists, I then successfully boot into XP. However, despite that, I still want to be able to boot into there via the WIndows Boot Manager, so I'm wondering what to do here. What I do know is this: Because of the way I installed the OSs, in XP, the C drive is Windows 7, the D is Windows XP, and the E is Windows Vista. However, in Vista, V/X/7 are C/D/E and in 7, 7/X/V are C/D/E. And also in Windows 7, usual critical system files I would usually see in the XP drive actually reside in the 7 drive. These include, of course, NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, and boot.ini, plus other files like AUTOEXEC.BAT, IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, and CONFIG.SYS. So what can I do in order to be able to boot normally into XP from the Windows Vista/7 Boot Manager again?

Addendum:

Wow, I didn't expect to figure it out myself before anyone responded. But my problem is solved. I just this time around used the latest 2.0 beta build of EasyBCD, still in Windows 7, and deleted the old XP boot option, created a new one, and this time, I kept the automatically determined boot drive location intact, instead of changing it. That was my issue. I found that easily in the sticky thread that says to read that before posting with a problem. So I solved my problem, and thank you to anyone who took the time to read my post, and I apologize for having posted it, only to solve the problem myself almost immediately almost after I probably might have never thought of it. Have a wonderful day.

Knows where his towel is.

Please keep requests for help in the forums where everyone can see them, not in Private Messages.Posting a plea for help or information in the forum, will be seen more quickly by a widely experienced audience.A solution in the forum could also be useful to other future visitors, so PLEASE, no private requests. (they won't be answered !)